Taxpayers Stunned That California Gave $1.3 Billion Of Their Money To…

To paraphrase a wise saying, giving money to legislators and government employees in California is like giving whiskey and car keys to 16-year old boys. Something is going to go very wrong with potentially tragic results.

And something has gone terribly wrong. This is a state with massive budget problems and concerns over its ability to sustain future pension payments to state and local government employees. To place the ability to meet such future obligations in doubt borders on fraudulent behavior. It is certainly indicative of incredibly reckless financial management.

So what does California do, specifically Los Angeles? Pay out $1.3 billion in welfare assistance to illegal aliens. What sort of twisted thinking potentially jeopardizes public finances and the welfare of its senior citizens by giving money to those who stole into this country in violation of its laws? The sort of thinking employed by those is Los Angeles, apparently.

“The metric is over a quarter of the money the county has spent on its entire low-income population. The Department of Public Social Services, the entity that assesses welfare and food stamp benefits in the county, gave a summary of costs associated with the city’s lax sanctuary policies for illegal immigrants.

“According to a study by the Migration Policy Institute, Los Angeles has one of the highest concentration of undocumented people of any county in the country. It also permits undocumented families with children born in the U.S. to receive full welfare and food stamp benefits.”

People used to joke with comments like, “well, if you’ve got it, spend it.” In the case of Los Angeles, they don’t even need to have it to spend it.

“Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Services shows that more than 58,000 families collected $602 million in benefits in 2015. 64,000 families received a total of $675 million in 2016. The entire county’s population cost the state $3.1 billion in total welfare and food stamps in 2015, and $2.9 billion in 2016.

That is an enormous burden to place on the taxpayers of California and Los Angeles. Should the day of reckoning come when such funds are no longer available, it will be interesting to see how all those who are used to these generous subsidies react. The prediction would be that it won’t be pretty.